What is the difference between a vocoder and a talkbox

To understand the underlying theory behind vocoders, I started out by studying the schematics and manuals for several hardware vocoders that were popular in the late s and early s. It made sense to me that I should try to develop an architecture for a vocoder that would attempt to model the signal flow as well as incorporate many of the key design concepts from these vintage units. The most important area I looked at was the filter banks.

The basic premise was that if I could reverse-engineer the filter bank designs from schematics and model those filters digitally, then the software vocoder would have a good shot at approximating emulating the sound of the original vintage hardware vocoder. Only that the architecture and feature set will pay homage to the classic hardware vocoders of the s and s, modeling not only their characteristic sounds but incorporating many of the unique routing capabilities of those signature instruments.

Ease of use is also a big design consideration. Lastly, it seems logical that we would want to include Auto-Tune pitch tracking and pitch correction into the design, making it into a fully Auto-Tuning vocoder!

Sarah Jones is a writer, musician, and content producer who chronicles the creative and technical forces that drive the music industry. She's served as editor-in-chief of Mix, EQ, and Electronic Musician magazines and is currently the live sound editor of Live Design magazine.

In basic terms, what is the difference between a vocoder and Auto-Tune? What about the Talk Box? If an output occurs from the mic's lowest-frequency filter, then that output controls the amplifier of the instrument's lowest filter, and allows the corresponding frequencies from the instrument input to pass.

If an output occurs from the mic's highest-frequency filter, then that output controls the instrument input's highest-frequency filter, and passes any instrument signals present at that frequency. As you speak, the various mic filters produce output signals that correspond to the energies present at different frequencies in your voice. By controlling a set of equivalent filters connected to the instrument, you superimpose a replica of the voice's energy patterns on to the sound of the instrument plugged into the instrument input.

This produces accurate, intelligible vocal effects. Vocoders can be used for much more than talking instrument effects. For example, you can play drums into the microphone input instead of voice, and use this to control a keyboard I've called this 'drumcoding' in previous articles. When you hit the snare drum, that will activate some of the mid-range vocoder filters.

Hitting the bass drum will activate the lower vocoder filters, and hitting the cymbals will cause responses in the upper frequency vocoder filters. So, the keyboard will be accented by the drums in a highly rhythmic way. This also works well for accenting bass and guitar parts with drums. Note that for best results, the instrument signal should have plenty of harmonics, or the filters won't have much to work on.

Previous article Next article. New forum posts Re: Thoughts on the Behringer Neutron. However there's nothing to say that the carrier signal has to come from a synthesiser.

You could play a guitar into a vocoder decoder, and it would be likely to work. A voice box is a much simpler arrangement, that works with the vibration of air, and the amps and microphones rock musicians are familiar with. A plastic tube is mounted in front of that speaker. The tube carries the sound from the speaker to the performer's mouth, where the end is gripped in their teeth.

The sound resonates in the performer's mouth just like speech does, and the performer shapes the sound by shaping their mouth. By 'singing' into a microphone, the shaped sound is amplified. There is no reason that a voice box has to be used with a guitar.

Any instrument capable of driving the small amplifier could be used. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. How does a "Talk-Box" differ from a Vocoder? Ask Question. Asked 8 years, 10 months ago.